Laura Finley, associate professor of sociology and criminology, earned a BA in Secondary Education (1994), an MA in Education and Professional Development (1999), and a Ph.D. in Sociology (2002), all from Western Michigan University. The courses she teaches include introduction to criminology, theories of deviance, critical issues in criminal justice, sociology of violence, elite and organized crime, and perspective consciousness and social justice. Dr. Finley is the author or co-author of seven books on various social justice topics. She regularly presents at professional conferences on issues related to peace, human rights, and social justice, and has published numerous articles and book chapters on these issues. She is also a community activist, serving with several non-profits to provide services to victims of domestic violence and essential human rights. Her current work is focused on peace education in colleges and universities.

Laura Finley: The Violence Against Women Act has helped hundreds of thousands of victims. It provides funds for training law enforcement, court officials, victim advocates and healthcare professionals.

Laura Finley: What makes one a snowflake, supposedly? An inflated sense of self-importance, an inability to handle criticism, demand for respect, and a sense of victimhood supposedly disproportionate to reality. Sound familiar? That is Donald Trump embodied.

Laura Finley: Almost always, the shooters are white males who have issues with females, be it rejections or overtly abusive relationships. The red flag, then, was his persistent and increasingly angry pursuit of a young lady despite her lack of interest.

Laura Finley: Despite the horrors that Cruz levied, I still do not want to see him executed. I universally oppose the death penalty. That is not a particularly easy position to hold right now, in this case, but I believe it is the right one. It is for me, at least.

Laura Finley: The idea of qualified immunity makes a certain sense, as it intended to ensure that police do not have to worry about frivolous lawsuits, but in the last several decades the Supreme Court has expanded its protections so dramatically it is, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said, a license to kill and an “absolute shield for law enforcement officers.”

Laura Finley: What if in addition to being committed to speak up as persons who have been victimized, we also committed to speak up when we see or hear troublesome comments or behavior? Some of us do this, others need to start doing it.

Laura Finley: Karan threw in the old atta-boy, noting that Weinstein, who settled sexual harassment suits with eight women and has now been accused by at least three of sexual assault, has done “some amazing things” and calling him and his wife “wonderful people.”

Laura Finley: In 2014, the Los Angeles Unified School District, amidst outcry from parents, announced that it would return the three grenade launchers it had acquired but would keep its armored personnel carrier and 61 assault rifles.

Laura Finley: No, you should not be allowed to work with communities you describe with disdain, disrespect, or prejudice, let alone work there with the authority of the state to carry and use a lethal weapon.

Laura Finley: Even more ironic than celebrating the destruction of Native Americans land and lifestyle is the fact that most Americans have no idea that such destruction continues today, and that our president has the power to stop at least one part of it immediately.

The Middle East

David A. Love: Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs works with front groups such as the Israel Project and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) to spy on US citizens who support Palestinian rights and smear them as anti-Semites, in a covert campaign that smacks of McCarthyism and Islamophobia.